Julie and Julia - Simply Wonderful

While having some of my mint green tea last night (My fav) I watched one of my new favorite movies for the first time, Julie and Julia. Such a wonderful movie. I knew this movie was about cooking and blogging. Two things I thoroughly enjoy. There is nothing like having a hard day at work or just one of those days and be able to come home and create a wonderful dinner. Something you can rely on:)

Meryl Streep and Amy Adams nailed this movie. I completely felt a connection with Julie. I had no idea she was an operator and deals with her fair share of angry/upset customers. ( I totally feel her on that one). It comes with the job. Her outlet: Cooking. I love coming home and preparing a wonderful dinner. She has a hard time actually completing anything she starts. Her husband nudges her to start a blog where she can type about anything. She gives herself a deadline of a year to cook her way through Mastering the Art of French Cuisine by Julia Childs. I think it ended up being close to 450 recipes in 365 days. I found the movie very entertaining. At one point she is in the kitchen floor in tears having a temper tantrum because something went wrong. I think we have all been there and if you haven't I'm pretty sure you will. That's what makes a good cook. Admitting you have made mistakes and you learn from them. Trying new things and not being afraid of them. The lobster and duck scenes are hilarious! For me; this was a feel good movie. One of the few movies I felt a strong connection with. I would love nothing more than to go to culinary school and become a chef. My modern day Julia Childs is....Drum roll please: Rachel Ray. I am trying to convince Chad to get Tivo so that I can record her show and watch it in the evening. In a nut shell; I loved this movie. My favorite quote from this movie is when Julia Childs finishes something in the kitchen, she taste it and then says, "Perfection, even if it isnt, never apologize, no excuses, no explanations."

I would like to have this hanging in my kitchen. Now to find someone with a creative vibe to help me make it :) Anyone out there?

No Flour Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
1. Position two oven racks in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.
3. Divide the dough into 24 portions, about 1 heaping tablespoon each. Roll each portion between your hands to form a smooth ball. Place the balls of dough on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them 1 inch apart. You should get about 12 cookies per sheet. Using a fork, press on the dough in two directions to form a crosshatch pattern.
4. Bake for 10 minutes.

YUM!

Truly Blessed

This weekend was wonderful. Saturday morning I received my first ever professional massage and I must say it will not be the last time:) It was amazing! I was able to experience a complete salt scrub as well as a Swedish massage:) Both were awesome! It was wonderful being able to do this with my mom and sister. I don't think they realize how much getting to do things with them means to me. We followed that by lunch at the only restaurant I think my family knows of, the one and only; La Parilla:) We met my dad, Honey and Aunt Cathy. After that it was a day with the ladies. I was on a mission to find a fall work wardrobe. It has been a mission. When did clothing companies quit making brown work skirts? Did I not receive the memo? Silly of me to think that brown was a fall/winter color...After traveling for the past month near and far to find this amazing brown skirt that does not exist we ended up at Macy's. When I had lost all hope and it just seemed inevitable that I was going to have to do without a brown skirt; I see Jennifer (my sister) sprint to the right out of the corner of my eye. That's when I saw it, like a beam of light came out of the sky and landed on a brown skirt! There were two left and they were both on the mannequins. I had my fingers and toes crossed that one of them was my size! Praise Jesus one of them was!! Finding this skirt has been an act of congress. Finally, a brown skirt with no jacket...Almost there!

On Sunday, Chad had to work so I went completely domestic. I went to the grocery store for the week. Got home and unloaded. Started the laundry. Got a pot of homemade chili and baked peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies:) Both homemade! I wanted to have both ready for when Chad got home so we could enjoy them during the Falcons game. Falcons rocked that stadium on Sunday! After the game we went to WalMart to purchase extension cords and a pumpkin. We needed both to start the decorating process for Halloween on the outside of the house:) It looks so good! We carved the pumpkin Tuesday night and put up the decorations outside:) Pictures soon to come as well as the recipe for the chili and cookies!

Next Monday I will be in the new building Chick-fil-A is moving Marketing and Operations too, Oakmont. I will be the back desk Receptionist and I am really excited about moving to that building. It's not permanent but I am so excited about being able to be familiar with both buildings:) I am so thankful and blessed to work for such a wonderful Christ Driven company. Blessed to work for a corporate company that offers devotions to their staff every Monday. Blessed to work with the amazing women on my team. Blessed to be meeting all of the wonderful people that work here. Blessed to have lunch provided everyday. Blessed that God has given the opportunity for work for a company that I believe in. I am learning so much and meeting wonderful people. Our department has our outing next Friday and I am so excited! I'll be able to do an update on that next weekend:) I'll post pictures and recipes tonight:) Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Cucumbers and Onions

This is a very tasty topping from my Great Grandmother (Mam-Maw-Lou). It's been in our family for years. Chad has been begging me to make some so I gave in and made some last week. Not that I didn’t want to make them I just kept forgetting every time I went to the grocery store. We call it cucumbers and onions:

4 large cucumbers (Peeled)
1 large onion
½ cup of distilled vinegar
3 tbls of Oil
2 tsp salt
6 tbls of sugar (You can do less if you would like)

Slice cucumbers about a quarter inch thick. Slice onion (do not dice). Add everything to large bowl (atleast 4 inchs deep) that seals well. Stir everything together and refrigerate for 24 hours. And you can put it on top of salads or be like Chad and eat them right out of the container:)

Resistance Bands and Giblets

After Bootcamp this morning I would like to say, "Death to Resistance Bands!"

I thought we were home free this morning towards the end of class and then Boom Boom Pow came on and he got this extreme burst of energy and had us pick em up!! I never quit but my legs were shaking like they were in ice water!!

Sunday night I decided to use my wonderful crock pot again. I had a whole chicken in the freezer that I pulled out to thaw. After about 5 hours of thawing I take it out of the bag and begin examining. For some reason I was unaware I was going to have to pull the giblets out...Ew. Chad was of minimal help, my mom was on the way back from Florida, and my wonderful Father-in-law, Joey was roped into helping me from his house. So between my mom laughing and Chad saying, I'm not eating that, I was calling Joey for help. I was so confused because I couldn't pull it out. I had to put it in the bowl to continue the thawing process. At one point, I was so confused with trying to explain what I was seeing to Joey I took pictures and emailed them to him. I have watched my mom many times pull giblets out I have just never actually done it myself...I got Chad to hold the chicken up out of the bowl for me to take pictures...

That is what I was supposed to pull out...Rather gross but I did it and invented my first crock pot meal that I will share:)

1/2 onion

2-3 stalks of celery

1 chicken

1-1/2 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup dry white cooking wine

3-4 red potatoes

1 bag of baby carrots

1 tsp rosemary

Cut up the onion and celery and lay in the bottom. Then dry the chicken with paper towels, season with salt and pepper and lay breast side down in the pot. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for 8 hours. The meat fell right of the bone:) I meant to take a final picture but I forgot...Believe me it was beautiful and yummy!

Rockin' the "Self-Propelled" Lawn Mower?

Sunday night I was so proud of myself!! I used my crock pot for the first time! Needless to say dinner was ready when I got home last night:) How wonderful! Walked in to the house and all I had to do was heat it up...Whoo-hoo!! I have many recipes to try out so when I find some really good ones I will share;)

Since we were through with dinner pretty early last night Chad asked me the question I had been dreading to hear since getting married. "Do you want to go cut the grass?" In my head, "Is that a rhetorical question? Is he serious?" I smiled and said, "Sure! Why not?" I get changed and put on loads of bug spray, hair in a cute little ponytail, I am good to go! Chad is going to do the backyard with the riding lawn mower while I do the front yard with the "self-propelled" mower. Anybody see anything wrong with that picture??? I started on the yard and about 5 minutes into it I am dripping sweat from every inch of my body. I have convinced myself that there is nothing self propelled about this lawn mower. Chad's grandfather gave it to us and I think the (Propeller?) is broke! If you have seen or been to our house you know that have some pretty steep hills on the sides of the house. I consider myself to be pretty strong and was out to prove myself last night. I start getting to the steep parts and I am literally trying to get a running start and barely make it up this hill. At one point I was completely stopped and digging my shoes into the ground. I thought after I did that last night I was pretty sure that I burned about 2500 calories:) haha...

All of this to say...I accomplished my goal of mowing our front yard!! Go me!! I will post a picture of the "mountains" in our yard so you will feel my pain. As soon as I finished I called my Mom and Dad to boast about my accomplishment!! Mom's response; "You cut the grass?" Granted I hate yard work and always did as a child the hard thing for me was pulling the cord to get it started. I recall hating yard work so much as a child this always comes to mind. My mom and dad used to bribe us to pick up pine cones by giving us a nickle for each one we picked up...

What's funny about that? Even that didn't work. Making the effort to pick up the pine cones and place them into the garbage bag or bucket was just to much for us girls. We would pick up the ones in the front yard and throw them over the fence into the back yard....then when we got to the back we would throw them back into the front yard. Accomplishing absolutely nothing! Jenn and I thought we were so clever and our parents had no clue...no really...Turns out they are much smarter than we thought as kids!!

Writing that story makes me smile :)

My favorite Recipe EVER!!

Simple and Delicious Chicken with Potatoes and Asparagus..

EVOO
4 boneless Chicken Breasts
1TBLS thyme
2TBLS unsalted butter
6 Medium Red Potatoes
1 Medium yellow onion
1/2 cup dry white cooking wine
1 TBLS Mustard (Dijon or regular works fine)
1 pound asparagus
1/4 cup parsley


Season Chicken with thyme, salt and pepper. Cook Chicken and remove to separate plate. Add EVOO and butter after taking the chicken out. Add the sliced potatoes (does better if they are thin), the remaining thyme, salt and pepper. Wait till the potatoes are cooked. Add wine. Mustard, chicken stock, Bring to a Bubble and then add the sliced asparagus. Add Parsley, stir to combine. Add chicken back to pan to re-heat.

** I sometimes have to add additional chicken stock if it takes a little longer to cook, you don't want it to get dry**

Hope you enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!!